The American Bar Association accreditation standards now require law schools to meet three objectives to improve legal education:

Set clear learning outcomes for students,

Provide a curriculum that allows students to meet those outcomes, and

Assess whether the curriculum actually does what it intends to do in preparing
students for the practice of law.

The College of Law has nearly completed this process after careful thought and planning
throughout the last three years.

First, the College of Law adopted six learning outcomes that reflect our educational
priorities for students:

Demonstrate a professional level of knowledge and understanding of substantive and
procedural law.

Research, assess, and synthesize legal information in order to perform legal analysis.

Communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, in a range of contexts,
modes, and forms, and to a range of audiences.

Model the ethical obligations of a lawyer and develop the capacity for reflective
judgment.

Demonstrate an understanding of the role and duties of the professional in the
legal system and society generally.

Exhibit a commitment to the value of service in the legal profession.

These outcomes are specifically designed to ensure that our students are taught all
of the crucial components of being a good lawyer so they are prepared to embark
on their legal career fully equipped with the knowledge, skills, and understanding
of ethics and professionalism they need to succeed.

Second, we mapped our curriculum to determine where we are already teaching the learning
outcomes we adopted and better understand how we approach teaching and whether
we are offering enough options to our students to ensure they are taking the courses
that help them achieve their learning outcomes.

Next, we began the assessment process of our courses. This entails an evaluation
of the student work product in courses that are clearly linked to a particular
learning outcome.

For example, we need to assess our students’ written work to
see if our curriculum provides the proper instruction that they need to “communicate
effectively . . . in writing,” as required by our third learning outcome. To do
that, we have compiled student written work and will be anonymously assessing whether
students have made sufficient progress in their writing skills to be considered
prepared for practice.

Each year we will be tackling a new learning outcome to assess whether we are teaching
our students well in a particular crucial area. If our assessment determines that
students are struggling in an area, it will be incumbent upon us to adjust our
curriculum to ensure that all students have an adequate baseline to build upon
in practice.

We are hopeful that this new system will give us a much more clear
picture of our educational program’s strengths and weaknesses, and allow us to
provide an even more fulfilling experience for all of our students.